Fall of Troy, The: In the Unlikely Event

The Fall of Troy are a band with enormous ambition. They envisage a time when art is brought back into the mainstream of popular culture by forward thinking creative minds everywhere, and they want to be a part of it with their frenetic high-pitched brand of music – probably described as mathcore or post-hardcore by genre buffs. But lofty words and portents of influence are one thing; does In The Unlikely Event match the ambition, or even their previous works?

At their best, They remain a very inventive act – marrying aggressive (some might say angst ridden) instrumentation and experimentation with the restraint required to give the numbers a snappy pop sensibility. Razor sharp riffs joust with cascading runs, all atop a frenetic rhythm section.

Relatively conventional song structures are established, before sometimes being scrapped mid song for alternative ideas, or morphing into instrumental closing sections. Here lies a problem though, as the main bodies of most of the songs, whatever genre they allude to, are at least initially relatively predictable and uninspired. This is further exacerbated by the Thomas Erak's voice, which does slip into a whining tone at times – all of which can create a slightly grating adolescent twang to proceedings. It all sounds a little like a solipsistic youth, so wrapped up in a sense of their own profundity that they don't realise how dull they can be.

When the band do choose to tear up what has gone before and go off on a tangent, they can be a revelation. The playing is brilliant, the ideas flow the music is at times engaging and indisputably interesting (although at times it does feel disjointed and forced). All of this leaves the odd situation where many songs are a Jekyll and Hyde of the inane and the masterful, with the end of the songs generally being far more interesting than the beginning.

Four albums into their career, The Fall of Troy sound a little confused about who they want to be. In the Unlikely Event has moments that underline their ability, but others that do keep the album from being consistently enjoyable. They are right to have high ambitions, but they have inadvertently taken a step backwards with this release.

Track Listing
01. Panic Attack!
02. Straight-Jacket Keelhauled
03. Battleship Graveyard
04. A Classic Case of Transference
05. Single
06. Empty the Clip, the King Has Been Slain, Long Live the Queen!
07. People and Their Lives
08. Dirty Pillow Talk
09. Nobody's Perfect
10. Webs
11. Walk of Fame
12. Nature Vs. Nurture

Added: October 14th 2009
Reviewer: Richard Wheelhouse
Score:
Related Link: Band's MySpace
Hits: 1901
Language: english

[ Printer Friendly Page ]
[ Send to a Friend ]